I usually have company and I'll call a stop to fire at enemy tanks, etc.

Also one more detail I forgot to mention that is important is it isnt dependent on whether or not the tank is moving but if the chassis is changing direction. If a tank is driving with the chasis going straight but angled at a 45 degree angle with the turret facing forward, the shells will go straight. this only occurs when the chassis is actually turning or changing directions.

I'm going to try to steer and counter aim with one of the casematted tanks to see if it's doing the same thing. Wonder if it's consistent across all vehicles or something funky with having multiple seats. Does it throw off MGs too?

It does affect MGs. Go try hitting anything in an armoured car that keeps swerving around. Even with the aiming decoupled from turning (obviously) it still takes time for the sight to line up with where the shots will actually go.

Thanks for clarifying about the "always moving" thing. Stopping to fire makes more sense and is what I usually try to do. I thought you meant just moving the whole time even when lining up shots and so I was confused.

And yeah, it really does screw over the landship pretty bad as the shells are already pretty bad compared with something like a fieldgun, and the fact they fly all over the place really doesn't help.

I'm just surprised this hasn't come up in a thread before. It struck me right away, probably because I try to use port MGs quite a bit. Honestly, without this feature the port MGs would probably be too good given how much weaker and harder to use infantry AT weapons are in this game. If drivers actually stop and let port gunners fire in this game it's like a shooting gallery given the huge open spaces and slow soldier movement.

I usually have company and I'll call a stop to fire at enemy tanks, etc.

Also one more detail I forgot to mention that is important is it isnt dependent on whether or not the tank is moving but if the chassis is changing direction. If a tank is driving with the chasis going straight but angled at a 45 degree angle with the turret facing forward, the shells will go straight. this only occurs when the chassis is actually turning or changing directions.

I'm going to try to steer and counter aim with one of the casematted tanks to see if it's doing the same thing. Wonder if it's consistent across all vehicles or something funky with having multiple seats. Does it throw off MGs too?

It does affect MGs. Go try hitting anything in an armoured car that keeps swerving around. Even with the aiming decoupled from turning (obviously) it still takes time for the sight to line up with where the shots will actually go.

Thanks for clarifying about the "always moving" thing. Stopping to fire makes more sense and is what I usually try to do. I thought you meant just moving the whole time even when lining up shots and so I was confused.

And yeah, it really does screw over the landship pretty bad as the shells are already pretty bad compared with something like a fieldgun, and the fact they fly all over the place really doesn't help.

I'm just surprised this hasn't come up in a thread before. It struck me right away, probably because I try to use port MGs quite a bit. Honestly, without this feature the port MGs would probably be too good given how much weaker and harder to use infantry AT weapons are in this game. If drivers actually stop and let port gunners fire in this game it's like a shooting gallery given the huge open spaces and slow soldier movement.

Between lack of external camera, and shitty angles, and apparent obliviousness of typical players I don't think the MG ports are terribly useful. It's largely chance that puts someone in a gunnerfield field of fire when the driver is aiming at the bulk of enemies and then they have to beg the driver to stop moving so that the gunner can mow them down wit the poor DPS/innacurate weapon before the enemy leaves FOV or hits cover. It doesn't help that there is no obvious way to align infantry into MG fields of fire and they are really not generous frontally.

I usually have company and I'll call a stop to fire at enemy tanks, etc.

Also one more detail I forgot to mention that is important is it isnt dependent on whether or not the tank is moving but if the chassis is changing direction. If a tank is driving with the chasis going straight but angled at a 45 degree angle with the turret facing forward, the shells will go straight. this only occurs when the chassis is actually turning or changing directions.

I'm going to try to steer and counter aim with one of the casematted tanks to see if it's doing the same thing. Wonder if it's consistent across all vehicles or something funky with having multiple seats. Does it throw off MGs too?

It does affect MGs. Go try hitting anything in an armoured car that keeps swerving around. Even with the aiming decoupled from turning (obviously) it still takes time for the sight to line up with where the shots will actually go.

Thanks for clarifying about the "always moving" thing. Stopping to fire makes more sense and is what I usually try to do. I thought you meant just moving the whole time even when lining up shots and so I was confused.

And yeah, it really does screw over the landship pretty bad as the shells are already pretty bad compared with something like a fieldgun, and the fact they fly all over the place really doesn't help.

I'm just surprised this hasn't come up in a thread before. It struck me right away, probably because I try to use port MGs quite a bit. Honestly, without this feature the port MGs would probably be too good given how much weaker and harder to use infantry AT weapons are in this game. If drivers actually stop and let port gunners fire in this game it's like a shooting gallery given the huge open spaces and slow soldier movement.

Between lack of external camera, and shitty angles, and apparent obliviousness of typical players I don't think the MG ports are terribly useful. It's largely chance that puts someone in a gunnerfield field of fire when the driver is aiming at the bulk of enemies and then they have to beg the driver to stop moving so that the gunner can mow them down wit the poor DPS/innacurate weapon before the enemy leaves FOV or hits cover. It doesn't help that there is no obvious way to align infantry into MG fields of fire and they are really not generous frontally.

I don't know what you mean by bad DPS. The vehicle MGs are pretty deadly in this game. Both the LMG and HMG have pretty decent damage models, muzzle velocity and ROF, fairly comparable to Support's LMGs. The also have zero recoil and use the negative spread mechanic of the LMGs. Most people are just terrible at aiming them and/ or have inconsistent sensitivity settings. It also depends on which MG you are using and what the driver is doing. If they have stopped to aim/ fire their weapon then the MGs are deadly, as you're effectively firing a Support LMG at someone who can't shoot you back. If the driver is swerving around everywhere then the MGs aren't going to be that great. Neither would any infantry weapon (as anyone who tried to fire out of a moving helicopter in BF4 knows).

On a side note, is there some other mechanic besides damage drop off and arm/ leg shots that reduces damage at long range? I have often noticed my rounds doing impossibly low damage at very long ranges. Just yesterday I was playing defence on Sinai Operations and parked one of the armoured cars just behind a sand dune near the train tracks so I could intercept enemy infantry coming over that collapsible rock bridge (between A and B n CQ). So anyway, I was able to effectively mow down most of the unaware infantry but I was watching my damage and it was very low sometimes. I got a headshot of 26 damage on one guy for example. This should be impossible since it has min damage of 17.5 right? Another time I was messing around with the boat MG on Fao Fortress and hit a sniper behind D flag from my position at B flag and did well under 20 damage with a weapon with a min damage of 28. Is this something to do with drag?

Also, to elementofprgress, yes you have your settings right. It's very badly worded in the menu there.

I usually have company and I'll call a stop to fire at enemy tanks, etc.

Also one more detail I forgot to mention that is important is it isnt dependent on whether or not the tank is moving but if the chassis is changing direction. If a tank is driving with the chasis going straight but angled at a 45 degree angle with the turret facing forward, the shells will go straight. this only occurs when the chassis is actually turning or changing directions.

I'm going to try to steer and counter aim with one of the casematted tanks to see if it's doing the same thing. Wonder if it's consistent across all vehicles or something funky with having multiple seats. Does it throw off MGs too?

It does affect MGs. Go try hitting anything in an armoured car that keeps swerving around. Even with the aiming decoupled from turning (obviously) it still takes time for the sight to line up with where the shots will actually go.

Thanks for clarifying about the "always moving" thing. Stopping to fire makes more sense and is what I usually try to do. I thought you meant just moving the whole time even when lining up shots and so I was confused.

And yeah, it really does screw over the landship pretty bad as the shells are already pretty bad compared with something like a fieldgun, and the fact they fly all over the place really doesn't help.

I'm just surprised this hasn't come up in a thread before. It struck me right away, probably because I try to use port MGs quite a bit. Honestly, without this feature the port MGs would probably be too good given how much weaker and harder to use infantry AT weapons are in this game. If drivers actually stop and let port gunners fire in this game it's like a shooting gallery given the huge open spaces and slow soldier movement.

Between lack of external camera, and shitty angles, and apparent obliviousness of typical players I don't think the MG ports are terribly useful. It's largely chance that puts someone in a gunnerfield field of fire when the driver is aiming at the bulk of enemies and then they have to beg the driver to stop moving so that the gunner can mow them down wit the poor DPS/innacurate weapon before the enemy leaves FOV or hits cover. It doesn't help that there is no obvious way to align infantry into MG fields of fire and they are really not generous frontally.

I don't know what you mean by bad DPS. The vehicle MGs are pretty deadly in this game. Both the LMG and HMG have pretty decent damage models, muzzle velocity and ROF, fairly comparable to Support's LMGs. The also have zero recoil and use the negative spread mechanic of the LMGs. Most people are just terrible at aiming them and/ or have inconsistent sensitivity settings. It also depends on which MG you are using and what the driver is doing. If they have stopped to aim/ fire their weapon then the MGs are deadly, as you're effectively firing a Support LMG at someone who can't shoot you back. If the driver is swerving around everywhere then the MGs aren't going to be that great. Neither would any infantry weapon (as anyone who tried to fire out of a moving helicopter in BF4 knows).

On a side note, is there some other mechanic besides damage drop off and arm/ leg shots that reduces damage at long range? I have often noticed my rounds doing impossibly low damage at very long ranges. Just yesterday I was playing defence on Sinai Operations and parked one of the armoured cars just behind a sand dune near the train tracks so I could intercept enemy infantry coming over that collapsible rock bridge (between A and B n CQ). So anyway, I was able to effectively mow down most of the unaware infantry but I was watching my damage and it was very low sometimes. I got a headshot of 26 damage on one guy for example. This should be impossible since it has min damage of 17.5 right? Another time I was messing around with the boat MG on Fao Fortress and hit a sniper behind D flag from my position at B flag and did well under 20 damage with a weapon with a min damage of 28. Is this something to do with drag?

Also, to elementofprgress, yes you have your settings right. It's very badly worded in the menu there.

The vehicle light MGs get the job done but they are merely average, it's not like the support guns are exactly fabulous either at ranges most relevant to vehicles. Once you hit that ~18 min damage, in combination with spread the only way you are reliably getting kills is people who are too derpy to react, or who have no cover nearby.

The biggest issue is that other than on the SC, the fields of fire of the driver and gunner weapons are not really complimentary on most of the vehicles. The driver will be facing the big threats, leaving the gunners merely opportunistic or shots with really short time windows. Not a good combination with a spready, lowish TTK weapon.

One the casemated tanks the driver HAS to swerve constantly because the field of fire is so limited.

What should be happening is that people crew up one of the heavy tanks (or the LS) when it moves onto a flag radius and the 360 coverage becomes useful, and then splitting off to do infantry things after the bleed, but the MG stations are so miserable overall that people don't seem inclined to waste their time.

MGs are all over the place on vehicles. Some of them are 17.5 (SC front gun for eg), others are 15.0 min, so 15.0 with a 1.7 should be 26 dmg rounded. You'd have to go through JSLICES post and see what has what gun.